Part 1: The Ah-ha! Moment

Never has the battle between the sexes been so apparent as when a man and woman dance the tango together. Life, itself, manifests through the constant push and pull of one physical body attempting to communicate with the other. It’s fascinating! Complicate this dynamic further by throwing some tango music in the mix and, behold: not only do you have two individual personalities struggling to work together, but now you have to deal with each of their unique musical preferences. Let the games begin!

During practice with Allison the other day, or, as I like to call it, the Will Pete and Allison Kill Each Other Tonight? show, I had an ah-ha! moment. It happened when I asked her if she could lead so I could follow, but, let me start at the beginning so you have the whole short story. As usual, we warm up with the flash of a quick smile and a happy hello, then we walk around the floor a bit to any song we feel like. Since there are no expectations of which figures to practice or what skills to refine, if the music is good, we drift off and improvise with our walking steps. Tonight, we played one of my favorite tunes, A Fuego Lento, which is a very playful song with a strong, steady cadence and beautiful melodies to boot.

With so many ideal musical nuances, it is like torture to my shuffling muscles–I go hog-wild! Literally, I get gitty, folks. My body reacts to unusual syncopations that I hear mainly because I’m used to playing bass and percussion. It is overwhelming trying to translate what I hear into movements that Allison can feel. Every time the double bass player strikes the body of the instrument, I feel a sensation in my gut that makes me coil up like a loaded spring and explode forward on the next beat. Rarely, however, do I get taken away by the melodies of the violin or piano. Actually, it’s safer to say that I can’t effectively translate what I feel from the melodies into my dancing. Don’t lie, Pete, you know that’s what it is.

As you can surmise, a practice session isn’t complete without me pouting my lips and giving puppy dog eyes as my way of asking Allison can you lead so I can follow? She always complies, somewhat against her will, and we continue dancing to the same song. So… my ah-ha! moment. All of a sudden, even though she’s leading, I start extending and traveling to the beat of my own drum. Cue the death-stare from Allison. I quickly apologize since I always nag her when she doesn’t follow my lead.

“What are you doing?” she asks.
“I’m really sorry, I just felt something in the music that took me away.”
“See! Now you know how hard it is to follow when you don’t feel like dancing the way the leader does!”
AH-HA!

What a simple concept: the follower feels the music, too! Cue death-slap from Allison. How could I have been so insensitive with my lead? As much as I try to stay in touch with how my lead affects her follow, I never considered her musical tastes and reactions to the tango music. I am so busy trying to, yet again, dish out the premier tango experience for the lady that I forget to balance the musical needs of my partner. But, really, how can I do that if she reacts spontaneously to tango music and, on top of that, in a different way than I do? I’ll just bookmark this experience in the back of my head and assume less while we’re dancing. I can’t, after all, predict the future.

Interpreting tango music in real time is the art of skillful dancing. I’m going to go back and re-read my own post Tango Orchestra Rhythms – Dos, Cuatro, and Sincopa and listen to A Fuego Lento to see where these rhythms exist in the music. I suggest you do the same, but first, enjoy this clip from the 1999 movie creatively entitled Tango (that’s a joke, there). Don Horacio Salgan composed A Fuego Lento and is the actual piano player seen in this clip. He’s 81 years old!

A Fuego Lento by Don Horacio Salgan

Here are some highlights to watch out for during this short burst of musical genius:

• 0:28 – The sound that makes me go hog-wild!
• 0:42 – What a beautiful violin melody…
• 0:57 – What are you looking at?
• 1:10 – Are you saying “Duh d’nuh duh duh d’nuh nuh?”
• 1:52 – Holy piano hands, Batman! Break it down, Salgan!
  (check yourself for goosebumps)
• 2:25 – Listen carefully for that subtle guitar playing…

Keep dancing,
Panayiotis Pete Karabetis

You May Enjoy These:

1. The Duality of Tango’s Musicality (2 of 2)
2. Musicality and…Miming?
3. Tango Orchestra Rhythms – Dos, Cuatro, and Sincopa
4. The Music vs. The Dance: Will Tango Win?
5. The Baltimore Tango Solstice Weekend